In your corner: REC Campaigns and Policy news – 12 August 2021

The weather may not be able to decide what it's doing at the moment, but here at the REC we are always looking to represent the best interests of our industry, come rain or shine. It's been another busy two weeks for the REC with our campaigns to tackle the labour shortages and implement digital right to work checks really stepping up a notch during this alleged summer period. You can see a summary of some of the work we've been up to this week below.

REC host roundtable with Home Office
This week the REC hosted a roundtable between the Home Office and a cross-section of our membership to discuss the use of digital technology in conducting right to work (RTW) checks. This gave REC members an opportunity to feed in directly to the Home Office’s ongoing review of IDVT in RTW. The discussion with the Home Office covered two main topics:

· Evidence from members on the REC's claims that the return of in person right to work checks for workers will delay hiring and risk worsening the worker shortage and could disadvantage vulnerable workers and those less able to travel.

· Feedback from recruiters on the use of the existing Employers Checking Service for overseas candidates, and how this could benefit RTW checks in future

The Home Office will be able to use this crucial first-hand evidence from the industry to better inform their approach to digital RTW moving forward. Hopefully the information and evidence the Home Office was provided in this session will be apparent in any decision made on the long-term use of digital RTW checks.

REC write to Minister and Telegraph on RTW
As part of our ongoing campaign on RTW, the REC and APSCo have sent a joint letter to Chris Philp, Minister for Immigration Compliance and Justice, to request a further delay to the return to in person checks due to take place on 1st September. Returning to face-to-face measures now would lead to delays in hiring and onboarding of jobseekers, due to the extra time, effort and cost associated with in person checks. At a time when businesses are doing all they can to move on from the pandemic, we need government’s support to remove as many barriers from recruitment as possible. The full text of the letter can be viewed here.

As well as this, last week the REC’s Kate Shoesmith and Manpower Group spoke to the Daily Telegraph about the problems with reverting to in-person right to work checks, and how they could make current labour shortages worse. Read the full piece online here (Telegraph subscription needed).

Putting Pupils First updated for 2021
For members operating in the Education sector, our guide “Putting Pupils First” has been updated to reflect legislative and compliance changes in the years since it was initially published. This guide is a useful tool to provide to your clients to explain the benefits of using a recruitment business in hiring, and the additional pros of REC membership and REC Audited Education status for best practice and good recruitment.

A series of stakeholder meetings across health & social care sectors
In the past couple of weeks, the REC has been meeting with a number of organisations across the health and social care sectors to discuss current issues and share our members’ concerns and feedbacks. The stakeholders we’ve met include NHS partners and framework providers such as NHS England & Improvement, Crown Commercial Services and NHS London Procurement Partnership. We’ve also met with civil servants from the Department of Health as well as other trade bodies for medical professionals to understand each organisation’s priorities and discuss our shared interest in healthcare workforce issues. Topics that were part of our meetings included umbrella company and NHS frameworks. During each meeting, the REC was reconfirmed with each organisation’s commitment to tackle illegitimate umbrella companies and off-framework spend.  

Research Corner
The KMPG and REC’s latest UK Reports on Jobs showed that recruitment activity surged again in July. Data showed that permanent staff appointments rose with a rate of growth that was the second-fastest ever, while temporary billings rose at a historic pace. With the increase in demand, we have seen a contraction in the overall candidate availability, that was the second steepest seen in 24 years. The lower staff supply, and the rising demand led to a further increasing in both starting salaries and temp pay.

This week, the REC is also publishing the new Jobs Recovery Tracker, so keep an eye out for the latest insight on job adverts trend across the UK.